Who is Quornelius Radford, the US army sergeant who shot 5 at Fort Stewart?

A US Army sergeant has been accused of shooting five fellow soldiers at one of the country’s largest Army bases on Wednesday.

Sgt Quornelius Radford, 28, allegedly used his personal handgun to fire at colleagues before other soldiers nearby managed to stop him at the Fort Stewart military base in Georgia.

Brigadier General John Lubas, the base commander, said the five injured soldiers were taken to the hospital and are expected to recover.

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The incident has again raised questions about safety at US military bases, which are meant to be some of the most secure places in the country.

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Who is Sgt Quornelius Radford? What was the motive behind the shooting?

Let’s take a look:

Who is Quornelius Radford?

The 28-year-old Army sergeant was arrested on Wednesday after opening fire at Fort Stewart military base in Georgia, leaving five soldiers injured.

According to Brigadier General John Lubas, Radford was an Automated Logistics Sergeant posted with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team at Fort Stewart.

Army records shared with The Associated Press show Radford joined the service in January 2018. He worked as a supply sergeant and had never been deployed.

Court documents show that Radford was due in court on August 20 in Hinesville, a town close to the base, over charges of driving under the influence and running a red light at around 1 am on May 18.

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Lubas said Radford’s DUI arrest had not been known to his commanding officers until the shooting, after which checks were made in law enforcement records.

Documents show he was given a blood test and later released on a bond of $1,818.

Radford’s father, Eddie Radford, 52, who lives in Jacksonville, told The New York Times that he had not seen anything unusual in his son’s recent behaviour and did not know what may have led to the attack.

He said his son, who is Black, had spoken about facing racism at Fort Stewart and had been trying to get a transfer.

General Lubas confirmed Radford had not served in any overseas combat.

His father also said Radford did not have a history of serious mental health problems, though he sometimes struggled with depression linked to the death of his mother when he was a child.

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What was the motive for the shooting?

Authorities have confirmed that Sgt Quornelius Radford opened fire at his workplace, but they have not given any reason for the attack.

The Army has launched an investigation into the shooting.

However, CNN, quoting a law enforcement official familiar with the case, reported that Radford had a disagreement with one of the victims a day before the shooting.

He reportedly followed that colleague to a maintenance area and shot him in the chest, before firing at four others. It is not clear what the disagreement was about.

General Lubas said other soldiers quickly stepped in and stopped Radford, preventing further injuries, before police arrived and arrested him.

Where is Fort Stewart?

Fort Stewart is about 40 miles (64 kilometres) southwest of Savannah and is the largest Army base east of the Mississippi River in terms of land area.

It is home to thousands of soldiers from the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division and their families.

The shooting took place in an area of the base where the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, also known as the Spartan Brigade, is based.

The Spartan Brigade was first formed in 1917 in North Carolina and fought in World War I, according to an archived Army webpage.

Though it was disbanded before World War II due to changes in the Army’s structure, several of its units took part in important American operations during the war.

It was reformed in 1963 and has since been deployed in places such as Germany, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and across Africa for combat, humanitarian and rebuilding missions.

In 2016, the Army chose the Spartan Brigade to become the 15th Armored Brigade Combat Team, a modern tank force, as part of its ongoing efforts to update its units.

With inputs from agencies